Global Warming...New Report...and it ain't happy news

Abstract

Climate change has been shown to affect fitness-related traits in a wide range of taxa; for instance, warming leads to phenological advancements in many plant and animal species. The influence of climate change on social and secondary sexual traits, which are associated with fitness because of their role as quality signals, is, however, unknown. Here, we use more than 5,800 observations collected on two Mediterranean blue tit subspecies (Cyanistes caeruleus caeruleus and Cyanistes caeruleus ogliastrae) to explore whether blue crown and yellow breast patch colorations have changed over the past 15 years. Our data suggest that coloration has become duller and less chromatic in both sexes. In addition, in the Corsican C.c. ogliastrae, but not in the mainland C.c. caeruleus, the decrease is associated with an increase in temperature at molt. Quantitative genetic analyses do not reveal any microevolutionary change in the color traits over the study period, strongly suggesting that the observed change over time was caused by a plastic response to the environmental conditions. Overall, this study suggests that ornamental colorations could become less conspicuous because of warming, revealing climate change effects on sexual and social ornaments and calling for further research on the proximate mechanisms behind these effects.

Agreat upheaval is coming. Climate-driven movement of people is adding to a massive migration already under way to the world’s cities. The number of migrants has doubled globally over the past decade, and the issue of what to do about rapidly increasing populations of displaced people will only become greater and more urgent. To survive climate breakdown will require a planned and deliberate migration of a kind humanity has never before undertaken.

The world already sees twice as many days where temperatures exceed 50C than 30 years ago – this level of heat is deadly for humans, and also hugely problematic for buildings, roads and power stations. It makes an area unliveable. This explosive planetary drama demands a dynamic human response. We need to help people to move from danger and poverty to safety and comfort – to build a more resilient global society for everyone’s benefit.

Large populations will need to migrate, and not simply to the nearest city, but also across continents. Those living in regions with more tolerable conditions, especially nations in northern latitudes, will need to accommodate millions of migrants while themselves adapting to the demands of the climate crisis. We will need to create entirely new cities near the planet’s cooler poles, in land that is rapidly becoming ice-free. Parts of Siberia, for example, are already experiencing temperatures of 30C for months at a time.

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Daniel Rayneau-Kirkhope and Arianna Casiraghi, accompanied by their dog, Zola, have just finished 4,500-mile (7,250km) bike ride across Europe to draw a giant GPS-plotted bicycle across seven countries to raise awareness of how cycling can help tackle the climate emergency. It is believed to be the world’s largest GPS drawing. You can see photos of their trip on their Instagram account.

Omg, you have saved the world, by drawing a bicycle on a map!

I see, so you couldn't even manage to draw a bicycle on a map.

Low rainfall and record-breaking heat across much of China are having widespread impacts on people, industry and farming. River and reservoir levels have fallen, factories have shut because of electricity shortages and huge areas of crops have been damaged. The situation could have worldwide repercussions, causing further disruption to supply chains and exacerbating the global food crisis.

People in large parts of China have been experiencing two months of extreme heat. Hundreds of places have reported temperatures of more than 40°C (104°F), and many records have been broken. Subway stations have set up rest areas where people can recover from the heat.

On 18 August, the temperature in Chongqing in Sichuan province reached 45°C (113°F), the highest ever recorded in China outside the desert-dominated region of Xinjiang. On 20 August, the temperature in the city didn’t fall below 34.9°C (94.8°F), the highest minimum temperature ever recorded in China in August. The maximum temperature was 43.7°C (110.7°F).

It is the longest and hottest heatwave in China since national records began in 1961. According to weather historian Maximiliano Herrera, who monitors extreme temperatures around the world, it is the most severe heatwave recorded anywhere.

“This combines the most extreme intensity with the most extreme length with an incredibly huge area all at the same time,” he says. “There is nothing in world climatic history which is even minimally comparable to what is happening in China.”

Together with the extreme heat, low rainfall in parts of China has led to rivers falling to low levels, with 66 drying up completely. In parts of the Yangtze, water levels are the lowest since records began in 1865. In a few places, local water supplies have run out and drinking water has had to be trucked in. On 19 August, China announced a national drought alert for the first time in nine years.

Hydroelectricity generation has fallen because of the low water levels. Sichuan has been especially affected because it normally gets 80 per cent of its electricity from hydropower. Thousands of factories in the province have had to cease operations because of electricity shortages amid high demand for air conditioning. Offices and shopping malls were also told to reduce lighting and air conditioning to save power.

In Sichuan alone, 47,000 hectares of crops are reported to have been lost and another 433,000 hectares damaged. The agriculture ministry has said it will try to increase rainfall by seeding clouds. It remains scientifically unclear whether cloud seeding makes a significant difference.

China is far from the only place affected by drought. Europe is having what may be its worst drought in 500 years. There is also a drought in the Horn of Africa, and across much of the US and Mexico.

Lower crop yields in these regions could worsen the global food crisis. Global food prices hit record levels even before Russia invaded Ukraine, and though they have fallen since March, they remain higher than in previous years. However, China has built up large grain reserves in recent years, so it can make up for some shortfall.

According to a 2021 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, droughts have been increasing as a result of global warming and will become more frequent and severe as the planet continues to warm.

The first thing you do when you go to someone's house is ask for the wifi network and password. For me, it's always amusing to watch the look on people's faces when they see that my family's wifi is called "Dinosaurs Aren't Real 5Gz."

Most kids have security blankets to cozy up with at night. Well, my little brother used to carry this giant plastic T. Rex around. At the age of 4, he was convinced that he would grow up to be one; that was his dream job. Abe, the T. rex. From daily games of Excavation (a spin-off of the game Operation) to the pterodactyl costume my brother wore every Halloween, I was constantly dealing with dinosaurs.

The only difference between the movies I watched as a kid about dragons or the ones about dinosaurs was the suspension of disbelief. Mockumentary about mermaids? Definitely not real, yet hilarious. But, dinosaurs wandering planet earth and befriending humans? That totally could have happened. Dinosaurs warranted credible documentaries, research, and an entire scientific field. The fictional stories were backed up by facts, and therefore people didn't see them as quite so fictional, after all.

Where was all of this information coming from? When I was in fourth grade, I did a research project on a subject of my choice. I got the opportunity to look into any subject that interested me. I decided to study paleontology. What I mean by this is that I literally read books about the study of paleontology. I didn't look for fossils or analyze their carbon levels, rather I looked up how scientists got their information.

What I learned was this: scientists don't actually dig up bones and suddenly remember that the particular specimen came from a lizard-looking creature that ate mammals. The way they learned about these creatures (millions of years dead) was by comparing their body structure to that of animals who live today. If a fossil resembled bones of a chicken, that must have been an ancestor of a bird, which meant it ate worms and bugs. My interpretation: scientists know nothing about fossils except for how old they are.

The more I looked into it, the less I understood, and the less I believed.

Let me ask you this: can you actually imagine an animal larger than an elephant wandering around? I'll admit it, I cannot fathom the concept of a world filled with creatures as large as the ones we see at the Natural History Museum. The AMNH in New York gets five million visitors per year. I think they're being lied to.

Half of what I saw of dinosaurs was in museums or scholarly books. The other half was in films, board games, and toys. Dinosaurs are a multi-billion dollar industry.

As a kid, I watched every Land Before Time movie, episode, and I even owned the PS1 game. Jurassic Park grossed $900 million in the box office, and every follow-up movie thereafter made record profit.

Consider this: every image of a dinosaur you have ever seen has been animated. When you go to a museum and see the fossils or the bones all laid out, they're not the real deal. They're plastic molds of casts from rocks.

When dinosaurs died out, how come the ones with wings didn't fly away from the infamous asteroid? Why didn't mosasaurus swim deeper into the ocean or a little further east and away from the dangers of climate change or whatever people are claiming killed off these powerful monsters? How could prehistoric mammals survive volcanic eruptions but the giant lizards couldn't fend for themselves? If there were dinosaurs in the Americas, but also in Africa, how did one flaming sky rock kill them all?

So many questions, so much money, so few answers. Poke fun at me all you want, but I'm just not buying it.

I think it's all just a conspiracy.

...we have the ability to desalinize water from the ocean.

we have the ability to seed clouds, and make rain come to areas that need it.